Vancouver announces new artist studios to be built in old warehouse

Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun01.17.2013

Elia Kirby (R) with Marietta Kozak inside 281 Industrial St. in Vancouver on Jan. 17, 2013. Vancouver announces winning bid from a local arts group who will move into the city-owned warehouse to operate an arts space.Arlen Redekop
/ Vancouver Sun

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It wasn’t exactly a party. She spent the entire night locked inside the Touchstone Theatre working to ready a stage set in time for the show’s opening.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

A lack of affordable and suitable studio space to create large-scale industrial pieces has forced Kozak, an active member of the Vancouver performing arts scene for more than 30 years, to make many an unorthodox space fit the task at hand.

“Sometimes we’d be building a 15-foot piece in a room with eight-foot ceilings ... You’d just go where you’d have to to get the job done,” she said.

So it was with particular satisfaction that Kozak unlocked the doors this week of a 21,000-square-foot city-owned industrial warehouse that will soon become a creative hub for a mix of artists and professionals who work in the local arts business.

Vancouver city council announced Thursday that The Arts Factory, comprising of the Great Northern Way Scene Shop and Arts Factory Society, had been awarded a 10-year lease of the warehouse at 281 Industrial Ave.

“We’ve known for years there was a growing problem in terms of artist space and there was a commitment the mayor made in the last election to try and mobilize city resources (to help find a solution),” said Coun. Geoff Meggs as he toured the 80-year-old warehouse Thursday.

Once complete, it is expected the building will be used by up to 100 artists. The model will allow artists to use office equipment, board rooms and creative space on a short-term basis.

It will also add up to 40 new studio spaces across about 10,000 sq. ft for artists working primarily in industrial fabrication, including large-scale sculpture, set-building, painting, fabric, wood and ceramics.

Elia Kirby, president of the Arts Factory, called the opportunity to secure the warehouse on a 10-year lease “tremendous.”

“It’s using city assets in a way that is really correct. I think it is visionary,” Kirby said.

“I have heard about this happening in other jurisdictions, primarily other international centres, where the city enables artists and arts organizations to use city lands, thereby giving them tenure and also supporting them in a way that is really great.”

Kirby estimated the rent at $20 sq. ft per year — about $175 a month per 100 sq. ft.

The warehouse will also be home to the Great Northern Way Scene Shop, which has been working for a decade with many local artists and non-profits on small and large-scale art productions, including Bard on the Beach, the Van East Cultural Centre, and the PuSH Festival.

The Scene Shop has, since 2003, operated from a studio at the Great Northern Way Campus that is slated for future condo development.

Kozak, Scene Shop business manager and Arts Factory treasurer, said bringing professionals together under the same roof will allow the arts community to benefit from the aggregate skills and experience. It will also provide important cost savings from the bulk purchase of materials, and allow projects to be completed faster and more efficiently.

“It’s totally a dream,” she said.

The old warehouse was built sometime in the 1930s and offers office and creative space across two floors. Meggs said the space became vacant after its most-recent tenant, a prop-design and storage company, moved out.

The Arts Factory is expected to begin improvements to the space over the coming weeks, with operations expected to begin this spring. The not-for-profit company anticipates phasing in the studio spaces throughout 2013.

Council approved a motion in February 2012 for staff to explore renting vacant city-owned space for artist studios and production space.

Meggs said the arts are an important economic and social contributor to Vancouver.

“They help us tell our own story and understand ourselves better and they challenge us in terms of ideas and debate. All of those high-level questions are very, very important and they need some kind of environment or climate to operate in successfully,” he said.

Earlier this week, the city agreed to explore a plan to allow for “work-only” art studios in all its industrial districts. Right now, most artists are restricted from renting in many of the industrial zones. Only welders and those considered “high-impact” artists are the exception.

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Vancouver announces new artist studios to be built in old warehouse

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